Refrigerator



Sept. 24, 1940. w ND 2,215,665

REFRIGERATOR Filed March 16, 1958 M ATTORNEY 16 L v /14' y 15 1: 18 i 1;24 m fly 3 2a 4 1 F 20 2; 1 2 5 {7 v 0 .INVENTOIZ z 22 :2 l 29 z 29 TPatented Sept. 24, 1940 UNITED STATES REFRIGERATOR William T. Hedlund,New Rochelle, N. Y., assignor to Servel, Inc., New York, N. Y., acorporation of Delaware Application March 16, 1938, Serial No. 196,106

3 Claims.

My invention relates to refrigerators, and it is an object of theinvention to provide an improvement for supporting a tray beneath acooling element or evaporator at a plurality of levels,

5 as will appear from the following description and accompanying drawingforming a part of this specification, and of which:

Fig. 1 is a front perspective view of a refrigerator with the doorthereof open and illustrating an embodiment of the invention;

Figs. 2 and 3 are enlarged fragmentary front views of the coolingelement and tray shown in Fig. 1 with the tray in an upper position inFig. 2 and in a lower position in Fig. 3;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of the cooling element andmembers fixed thereto for supporting the tray; and

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the tray.

In the drawing I have shown the invention in 20 connection with ahousehold refrigerator includ-' ing a cabinet J having a thermallyinsulated space ll into which access is afforded by a door l2. Withinspace H is arranged a cooling element or evaporator M of suitablerefrigeration 25 apparatus which produces a refrigerating effect forfreezing ice and keeping the space at a desired low temperature.

The cooling element may comprise a cast meta shell in which a coolingcoil (not shown) is em- 30 bedded, the shell being provided with aplurality of compartments adapted-to receive trays l containing water orother matter to be frozen. A

plurality of shelves I6 and I1 are supported within space H in anysuitable manner, as by hooks 35 I8, for example.

A tray [9 is disposed. beneath cooling element.

l4. During defrosting of cooling element I4, tray I9 is utilized tocollect water resulting from melting of frost on the cooling element.

In accordance with my invention, tray I9 is arranged to be slidablysupported by cooling element l4 so that it may be moved to differentlevels and thereby hold and accommodate difierent quantities of food,such as meat and the like.

' This is accomplished by fixing two spaced members 20 to the bottom ofcooling element H. The members 20 are formed of metal rods and bent tothe shape shown in Fig. 4. The members 20 provide spaced guides ortracks 2| which extend 50 from the front to the rear of cooling elementl4.

At the regions where the tracks terminate, members 20 are bent outwardand away from each other for a short distance 22 and then verticallyupward at 23. The vertical portions 23 are spaced from the sides ofcooling elementll and at the upper ends the rods are bent inwardly toprovide horizontal portions 24. The extreme ends of the rods 20 areformed with openings whereby the rods may be secured by screws25 to theunderside of cooling element l4. 5 The tray l 9 may be formed of metalor glass or any other suitable material and includes a bottom 26 andside walls 21 extending upward about the periphery of the bottom. Aflange 28 extends outward from the upper edges of side walls 21. Inaddition to the upper flange 28, the lateral side walls are providedwith lower flanges 29 which are disposed in the same horizontal plane asthe tray bottom 26.

In using tray I9, the tray may be slidably positioned at an upper levelon members with the lower flanges 29 resting on tracks 2|, as shown inFig. 2; or positioned at a lower level with the upper flanges 28 restingon tracks 2|, as shown in Fig. 3. In this manner tray l9 may besupported 20 in one of two positions to take care of the differentquantities of food, such as meat and the like. By providing members 20with outwardly extending horizontal portionsv 24 and employing a traywider than cooling element l4, all of the water resulting from meltingof frost during defrosting of the cool-ing element will flow and collectin the tray.

While a single embodiment of the invention has been shown and described,such variations and 30 modifications are contemplated which fall withinthe true spirit and scope of the invention, as

pointed out in the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a refrigerator having a cooling element,

members fixed to said cooling element to provide spaced guide meansextending from the front to the rear of the cooling element, and a trayhaving supporting ledges at different levels, said members and said traybeing formed and arranged so that said tray may be slidably supported onsaid tracks by the supporting ledges at a plurality of difierent levelsbeneath said cooling element. v

2. A refrigerator including a cabinet having a 5 thermally insulatedstorage compartment, refrigeration apparatus including a cooling elementlocated in said compartment, a plurality of shelves in said compartmentfor supporting articles of food and the like, track members supported byand located on the under side of said cooling element, a flanged panslidably supported on said tracks directly beneath said cooling element,said tracks and said tray being formed and arranged so that the tray maybe slidably supported on said ment, and a structure to suspend saiddevice from said cooling element, said structure and device being formedand arranged so that said device may be adjusted to different levels onsaid support whereby produce of-difie'rent heights may be accommodatedin said device beneath said cooling element.

WILLIAM '1. HEDLUND.

